Economic Association Affair: Dismissal of the Tax Evasion Proceedings

The public prosecutor's office confirmed a report by the "Vorarlberger Nachrichten", which is based on the lawyer of the Economic Association. It was stated that intent to evade could not be proven, and it was disputed whether there was any tax liability at all.

According to the reasoning of the public prosecutor's office, the Economic Association and its officials, as well as their tax advisors, "subjectively" assumed for years that the advertising revenues of the largely advertisement-based, now discontinued member magazine "Vorarlberger Wirtschaft" were not subject to sales and corporate tax. "Regardless of whether the legal opinion of the Vorarlberg Economic Association is correct," it could not be proven that the accused "intentionally evaded the information related to the advertising revenues, especially since it is disputed whether there is any corporate and sales tax liability at all," the public prosecutor's office found according to the report.

Economic Association Lawyer: "Nothing Remains"

"Nothing remains," said lawyer Wilhelm Klagian to the "VN". The self-disclosure, which was at the beginning of the case, was not addressed. Still pending is the nullity complaint against the verdict regarding six Christmas dinners paid for by the Economic Association, totaling 12,980 euros, of the former state governor Karlheinz Rüdisser (ÖVP). Here, the Feldkirch Regional Court found in early March 2025 that the charges of accepting benefits to influence or granting benefits to influence were fulfilled. In addition to Rüdisser, the three former Economic Association executives Hans Peter Metzler, Jürgen Kessler, and Walter Natter were charged. They were sentenced to partially suspended fines of 27,500 euros (Rüdisser), 15,000 euros (Metzler), 13,500 (Kessler), and 10,000 euros (Natter). An appeal is also expected here, according to the lawyer.

The affair is still not over: Regarding the disputed taxes, a complaint procedure is still pending, Klagian emphasized. Therefore, the public prosecutor's office rightly points out that given the fact that it is disputed whether there is any sales and corporate tax liability at all, in view of the years-long and unchallenged practice of treating the advertising revenues as not subject to sales and corporate tax, no subjective accusation can be made. A review of whether the self-disclosure, submitted solely out of legal caution, was legally effective could therefore be omitted.

Tax Audit Brought Large Back Payments for Economic Association

The advertising practices of the Vorarlberg Economic Association with its largely advertisement-based member magazine "Vorarlberger Wirtschaft", repeatedly criticized by the opposition since 2010, came into the public focus following an "Ö1" report and in the course of a tax audit of the Economic Association that became known at the end of March 2022. During the audit, both the then Economic Association chief and Chamber of Commerce president Metzler and the then Economic Association director Kessler resigned. The Economic Association filed a self-disclosure in connection with the tax audit and justified it by saying they had "overlooked" a new legal situation. The auditors, however, saw intentional evasion.

As a result of the more than eight-month-long tax audit, which mainly dealt with the taxes on advertisements sold for the publication "Vorarlberger Wirtschaft", the organization had to pay back around 484,000 euros in sales tax, 388,000 euros in corporate tax, and around 106,000 euros in donation tax for the years from 2016 to 2021, which the Economic Association partially contested.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.